"Wingin' it"

Nov 03, 2003

RAY: The other day, one of the neighbors and I were having a little conversation.

TOM: One of the few neighbors that still talks to you?

RAY: There's always the new guy on the street. He was asking about the radio show. It took him a while, but he finally got around to asking how much preparation we do in advance of every show. And, I had to tell him, we don't do much preparation at all.

TOM: Life is preparation for the show!

RAY: Precisely. He said, "Oh, in that case, every week, you're pretty much wingin' it."

And, I said, "Well, not exactly."

Which, conveniently, leads me to this week's puzzler question. Where does the term "wingin' it" come from and what does it mean?

Answer:

TOM: It means you're doing it without any preparation.

RAY: Right. And, it turns out that actors who don't know their lines go on stage and rely on people in the wings to feed them their lines. They are, in other words, winging it.